The number of deliberate fires attended by Northern Ireland fire crews in last five years

The Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service have attended over 23,000 deliberate fires over the past five years, new figures show.

While fire and rescue services across the UK attended fewer incidents last year, deliberate fires continue to waste valuable resources and put lives in danger. The NIFRS has attended over 34,000 incidents since 2019, with many of these being deliberate fires, according to a new investigation.

Figures obtained by Public Interest Lawyers found that NIFRS has attended 14,833 primary and secondary fires over the past five years, with 50% of these being deliberate.

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Primary fires are potentially more serious fires that cause harm to people or damage to property. Secondary fires are generally small outdoor fires, not involving people or property and these include refuse fires, grassland fires and fires in derelict buildings or vehicles.

From 2019 to 2020, NIFRS attended 6,859 primary and secondary fires, which was the third-highest number of fires over the past five years. Two years later, the number of incidents increased to its highest total over the five-year period, which was 7,849 fires.

Over the past year, the service has experienced a drop in primary and secondary fires, with the total standing at 5,434 in 2023/24. Fire Rescue Services (FRSs) attended 600,324 incidents in the year ending March 2024, a decrease of 3.6% compared with the previous year (622,659).

Of these incidents, there were 138,977 fires, which was a decrease of 22% compared with the previous year (178,867). Despite this positive drop in fires across the UK, a worrying percentage of these incidents are deliberate fires, which can lead to injuries and fatalities.

A spokesperson said: "Deliberately set fires are dangerous and are a criminal offence. They waste time, money and keep fire crews away from real emergencies. These deliberately set fires commonly include bins, skips, fly-tipped waste, derelict buildings, dry grass and heathland. Victims of deliberate fires may lose all their property, be made homeless or be seriously injured."

Public Interest Lawyers also obtained figures on the number of injuries caused by deliberate fires across the UK. There have been 290 deliberate fire injuries recorded by NIFRS since 2019, with the highest annual total coming in 2019.20, standing at 80.

They added: "Whilst the impact of lockdowns in 2021 will have depressed the number of deliberate cases, the figures show that not only is arson the leading single cause of the fire but highlight the extent to which the increasing threat of arson must be taken seriously.

"The impact of arson isn’t just financial; it can significantly affect a person’s emotional well-being and sense of security."

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